Dr. Le, Radiation Oncologist from Stanford, on Radiation Options for Early Stage NSCLC

Dr.  Quynh Le, radiation oncologist and Professor at Stanford University, was kind enough to participate in our NSCLC Patient Education Forum.  She spoke on the topic of emerging treatment options using radiation for early stage NSCLC.   The new work she’s describing on stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is looking promising enough that it’s being [...]

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Video Podcast Presentation on Locally Advanced NSCLC

   Ask and ye shall receive!  The leading requiest for a video podcast presentation was for a summary of the subject of locally advanced, unresectable stage III NSCLC.  Here you go:
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Sorry it’s a little rushed, but it’s a struggle to do a topic justice with a 10 minute limit (the most YouTube accepts).  In the future, we’ll [...]

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Tales from the Clinic: Surgery after Chemo/Radiation

   In prior posts I’ve described the special circumstance of a Pancoast tumor, which is a tumor at the top of the lung that tends to grow into the spine, ribs, and sometimes the nerves going to the arm. These cases are a major challenge because surgery is often something to consider, because they often [...]

Interview with Dr. Vivek Mehta, Radiation Oncologist: Early Stage and Locally Advanced NSCLC

This audio interview by medical oncologist Dr. Jack West of radiation oncologist and lung cancer expert Dr. Vivek Mehta covers the current and emerging treatment options for radiation alternatives to treat early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

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What I Really Do: Locally Advanced, Unresectable NSCLC

   The setting of unresectable, stage IIIA or IIIB NSCLC (without a malignant pleural effusion) is currently one for which what we feel is best for the patient isn’t necessarily something for which we have good evidence.  For fit patients, there is a strong consensus that giving concurrent chemo with radiation provides a modestly but [...]

Integrating Alimta and Cetuximab in Locally Advanced NSCLC

   As a follow-up to my last post on the appeal of developing new regimens for combining with radiation in treatment of locally advanced unresectable NSCLC, I wanted to highlight work being done by the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALBG), one of the major cancer cooperative research groups in the US.  As I mentioned [...]

Introducing Erbitux and Other Agents into Treatment of Locally Advanced NSCLC: RTOG Experience

While there have been new agents introduced and rapidly changing standards in advanced NSCLC, another 40% of patients with NSCLC have locally advanced (stage III) NSCLC, many of whom with disease that is not resectable but is potentially curable with agressive chemo and radiation. Last year’s ASCO meeting included results [...]

Consolidation Radiation to Residual Chest Disease After Chemo for Extensive SCLC?

   Here’s a situation in which I learned something from the questions raised by people here online.   A handful of people with extensive disease small cell lung cancer (ED-SCLC) in the last year or two have mentioned receiving radiation for areas of residual apparent disease after receiving initial chemotherapy.  I had noted that I had never [...]

Limited Resection vs. Radiation for Marginal Patients with Early Stage NSCLC

   The standard of care for at least stage I and II NSCLC is surgery, sometimes followed by chemotherapy.  We know, however, that not every patient who presents with early stage NSCLC is healthy enough to pursue surgery, whether due to general age-related or other illnesses, or due specifically to a low pulmonary reserves, usually [...]

Trimodality Therapy for Pancoast Tumors

   In a very recent post I provided an introduction to the special case in NSCLC known as a Pancoast tumor, including a historical perspective of how it has evolved from being perceived initially as an untreatable, uniformly fatal diagnosis to a cancer that could be cured with radiation and then surgery in a significant minority of [...]